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For
many years, whenever I was under pressure (which was most
of the time) I would have the same recurring dream:
I was in a mall, and I needed
to find an outfit for a party which was taking place in a
few hours. The stores were closing in ten minutes. I wasn't
finding anything I liked, or they didn't have it in my color,
or they didn't have my size. I didn't really know what I was
looking for, just that I had to buy something.
Frantic but determined, I
rushed from floor to floor, escalator to escalator, dressing
room to dressing room, leaving a trail of angry saleswomen
and tried-on clothes everywhere. The closer it came to closing
time, the more determined I was to find something. I kept
running faster.
This nightmare came in other
variations, like I had to cook dinner for 100 people and I
had no ingredients at home, and the supermarket was closing.
I would always wake up from these
dreams with my heart pounding, my head throbbing. Basically,
a neurotic mess. I later learned that most 'type-A' people
have one version or another of this dream when they are under
particular stress.
But as we close the millennium,
I somehow feel that this nightmare has taken on national -
if not global - significance.
These days, everything seems
frantic. Everyone seems to be running around aimlessly, trying
to find something - anything - quickly.
Like Alice falling into Wonderland,
everywhere I look, I see only extremes.
And everything is upside down.
I see eight-year-olds who must
be cool and fashionable and cynical and worldly.
And forty-year-old executives
waking up in time to freeze their eggs should they decide
to have kids at forty-seven.
I see violent offenses rising
among 6-9 year olds to the extent that some states have lowered
the age for punishing juvenile crime.
And I see fifty-year-old women
screaming over Ricky Martin like teenagers.
I see thirty-one-year olds depressed
because they are now too old to be successful - they haven't
yet made partner or CFO or designed a new software application.
And fifty-seven-year-olds fired
from jobs they've held for thirty years, and replaced by twenty-two-year-olds
in power suits.
I see ultra-thin, anorexic stars,
frenetically keeping skinny to stay employed.
And I see obese, fast-food guzzling
regular people, with no time to cook themselves healthy meals,
sipping heart-disease through a straw.
I see music artists that are
gods for a day, coming and going at the speed of light.
And lyrics that bring only darkness.
I see frenzied public reactions,
letters to the editor, websites, books, and countless articles,
all regarding a low-budget film about witches.
And I see almost none of this
regarding the children dying of starvation in Africa or India
or Central America.
I see that every month brings
another fad - a toy or a running shoe or a CD or an outfit
- that everyone buys. Until the stores literally run out.
That everyone MUST buy.
I see the very rich buying all
these things, and then buying the companies that make them
and the stores that sell them.
And I see the very poor watching
them buying.
And nobody watching the very
poor.
I see Jerry Springer and
Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and I think - - Is this
for real? Are these people real?
Where do they FIND them?
Why do we WATCH them?
I see kids running to the patent
office, starting their own Internet companies.
They are zillionaires, but they
can't legally buy a beer.
And...
I wish I could wake up.
How about you? Write me....sarae@wholefamily.com.
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